Feedback on first out of state market to invest in

[Daniel Soovajian]

Hello! 

My wife and I are ready to start our real estate investment journey and are looking for some feedback on what market to start in. First, a bit of context: we recently moved to Vancouver, WA have found it very challenging to find rental properties that could satisfy the 1% rule - especially since neither of us have the expertise, time, or interest to try and rehab a property for our first investment. After doing some research on BP and reading David Greene's book on out of state investing, we're feeling confident we can make out of state investing work. 

Someone posted an article on BP a while back that gave (what I thought at least) was a really comprehensive analysis of growing markets (https://wallethub.com/edu/fastest-growing-cities/7...). I did some quick searches for many of these markets on realtor.com to get a ballpark idea of what properties were selling for and what rents were being charged for comparable properties. Based on that research, I narrowed the list of potential markets down to these three:

1) Columbus, OH - I really like the stability provided by major employers in the area combined with its modest growth prospects

2) Chattanooga, TN - my wife and I lived there for about 1.5 years so I'm somewhat familiar with the area and felt like it was heading in the right direction; additional research I've done seems to support that as well 

3) Indianapolis, IN - I've done the least research on this market so far, but it seems similar to Columbus in that there is likely to be continued modest growth there 

Our strategy is to pursue buy and hold rental properties, primarily for cash flow but with some potential for appreciation, and are interested in B/B+ multifamily properties (4 units or less) that can produce a 12% ROI with at least $100 of cash flow per door per month.

We have $35,000 cash and plan to put down 20% on a conventional mortgage, so right now our target price ranges is $175,000 or less. Once we pick the market to pursue we'll focus on building our our key local team (e.g. realtor, property manager, lender, and contractor).

Looking forward to hearing what the BP community has to say about these markets given our investment strategy. Thank you in advance!

[Ali Boone]

I'm biased towards turnkeys too, but I agree with @Jeff Schechter in that doing all the more advanced stuff from afar can increase your risk ten-fold. 

Indy and Columbus are cool, but I don't think you'll be finding cash flow in Chattanooga anytime soon.